Means for molding artificial teeth.



G. H. WHITELEY. JR.

MEANS-FOR MOIDIIIG ARTIFICIAL TEETH.

APPLICATION FILED IuIIE IIL IgIa.

l QQIQSI Patented Jan. 7, 1919.

l 4 MIQIQIII I I ATES PATENT OFF'CE@ oponen n. WHITELEY, Je., orYomcPnNNsYLvANIA, Assrenoa 'ro `frias DEN'rIs'rs SUPPLY COMPANY, AoonPonA'rroN or New YORK.

. MEANS Pon nonnina ARTIFICIAL frnnrir.

Specification of Letters Patent, i Jan. "Y, 1919.

Application led J une 18, 1913. Serial No. 774,288.

To all whom it may concern; y

Be it known that I, GEORGE H1 WHITE- LEY, Jr., citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of York, coiinty of York, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Means for MoldingArtificial Teeth, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a suitable construction of moldin which to mold artiicial teeth in such manner that the same mold maybe employed in which to mold the teeth with pin holes having metallicanchors therein to which to solder pins, or with the pins directlymolded into the bisque material of which the molded teeth are composed,said molded teeth being subsequently fired for fusing the bisque orvitreous material.

fleretofore, it has been necessary to provide two sets `of molds, one lto` provide moldedy teeth having the anchors and holes therein, to whichanchors the pins are subsequently soldered, and the other to pro videmolded teeth in which the ends of the pins are molded into the body ofthe tooth; and as there are large varieties of styles or forms of teethto be molded, the necessity for duplicate sets of these ino-lds is verycostly. By my improvements, the same mold may be employed for moldingteeth with holes or with anchors or pins molded therein, or both, asdesired, thereby reducing the cost to approximately one-half.

ln the general construction of my improved mold, l provide the upper andlower halves o'f the mold with carefully formed abutting edges boundingrecessed portions, which provide the hollow space constituting the moldproper for the tooth, and in the face of `one of these hollow moldspaces, I

l provide one or more holes fitted with freely removable metal or`indestructible posts or studs adapted to support upon their ends,

which project upinto themold space, suitable anchors which `are `thus`held in elevated position and embedded in the bisque material of whichthe tooth is molded. The

said postsor studs are `freely removablel fromthe molds for a two-foldpurpose, namelv, to enable the post or stud to be drawn out of the mold`with the delicate molded bisque tooth and subsequently separated fromit, and to provide a suitable hole in the mold body when removedtherefrom to form a support `for a in which is to be molded into thebisque ody and permanently and `directly secured in position there inwhen the tooth is fired.

ln normal use of the molds, they are in conditionto be employed for theproduction of the teeth in either of the above two forms. l In bothcases, the bisque teeth, when molded, have a pinor stud embedded intheir material, but in the case of the use of the anchor, or cavitywithout an anchor, the stud employed is withdrawn before firing. Myinvention also comprehends details of construction which, together withthe fea tures above `set out, will be better understood by reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

l Figure l is a transverse sectional elevation of a mold embodying myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same witha partof the upper mold portionbroken away to show the lower `mold portion; Fig. 3 is a transversesectional elevation, similar to Fig. 1, showing a slightly modiiedformof the removable studs or posts; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one; ofthe posts shown in Fig. l; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the anchorshown in Fig. l; and Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the form of post orstud shown in Fig. 3.

2 and 3 are the two parts of the mold and are made of metal andlitted to`meet upon denite lines of contact constituting the boundary or outlineofthe molds for the teeth. As commonly made, each mold is so formedjasto simultaneously mold a `full set of teeth,\but it is not essential tomy invention as it will be manifest that, if desired,

`a separate moldmay be `made for each tooth.

`the mold space may be provided with a flattened part or :Hoor 10 inwhich is provided one or more holes 6 extending down into the `mold body*2 to a distance, `at least equal to the extent to which a` pin would berequired to project beyond .the `vback surface of the finished tooth,for reasons which will be presently explained.

'Referring'more particularly to Fig. l, the holes 6 in the floor 10receive the shank 7 of the stud 8, which latter also projects into thetoo-th space of the mold. The stud part 8 is of.k larger diameter thanits shank 7 and thereby provides an annular shoulder 8a (Fig. 4) whirhrests upon the fioor 10 and definitely determines the extent ofprojection of the stud. This also makes a close fit between the stud andfloor and thereby in- -sures a clean molded hole in the tooth leadingto-the anchor. .The diameter -of the shank 7 is approximately what wouldbe the normal diameter of a pin such as may be used in the finishedtooth, and the stud 8 is preferably tapering so as to be easilywithdrawn from the molded tooth 11. The shank 7 is, moreover, made toloosely fit in the holes 6, so that when the teeth are molded and themold parts 2 and 3 are separated, the tooth .and with it, the stud, maydrop out by simply turning the mold part 2 upside down.

The top of the stud 8 receives the anchor 9 (Fig. 5), which rests uponthe end of the stud and approximately` fits its body part. When thetooth is molded and removed from the mold,the shank 7 is caught and thestud 'portion 8 withdrawn from the molded tooth,

because of its capacity to withstand the heat of the subsequent firingand its proof against oxidizing.

If it is not desired to form the teeth with the anchors 9, to which tosubsequently solder suitable pins, (including those which vcouldnotwithstand the temperature required to fuse the bisque) and instead,embed .the pin directly in the tooth and. fuse the toothupon it, I maysimply insert the pin into the vhole 6, allowing its head end to extendup into the tooth space and mold the tooth 1l directly about the pin. Inthis case, the depth of the hole 6, being exactly the length to whichthe pin is to extend beyond Athe tooth surface, will support thepininexactly the right position. .It will be understood therefore that.this limitation as to the depth of the hole is an important feature of.my invention.

From the foregoing description, it will be awundcrstoodthat with thesame` mold, the

teeth may be molded with anchors or pins as forming the tooth, and

desired, and as far as I am aware, this has never been possible in anyother mold.

In the form of my invention shown in Fig. 3, the stud or post 8 has theshank part 7n which loosely enters the hole 6 of a diameterapproximately equal to the largest part of the tapered stud 8; andlikewise the hole 6 in the mold part 2 is of correspondingly largerdiameter. By this stud, the support of the anchor 9 is the same asbefore, but as the hole 6 is larger, should it be desired to use themold for molding pins directly into the bisque as is well-known, the pinto be employed may be of the well known form having a head on both ends.The pin may be received in the hole 6 and rest on the bottom thereof,and with the pin otherwise molded in the tooth as before explained, justas the studs are molded in.

The particular shapes of the pins may be varied and employed with orwithout a head at its end received in the hole 6, and the part whichextends into the body of the tooth may also be modified, so long as itproperly holds in the tooth when completed, all of which will be readilyunderstood by those skilled in the art.

In the construction of apparatus and mode of procedure in its use, thereis involved a very important method having its special advantage byreason of the fact that an embeddedanchor may be provided in the moldedtooth simultaneously with the molding of a hole leading thereto, thedirect means for securing these two functions or results residing in theremovable indestructible pin or stud which is loosely supported in themold body during the moldingoperation, and which stud drops out of themold with the molded tooth and is then withdrawn from the tooth leavinga smooth cleanly molded hole centering down into the anchor forming thebase or bottom of the hole. By this method of molding a tooth with ananchor, the delicate structure of the tooth is not injured, because thestud is not required to be withdrawn from the tooth until after it hasbeen shaken from the mold with its attached stud, and then the smoothmetal or hard surface and taper of the stud enables easy separation ofthe stud from the tooth and leaves a dense and smooth surface to thehole so formed which makes a better surface when fused. Furthermore, asthe anchor 9 snugly vfits over the end of the stud 8 to about onehalf ofits projection into the hollow mold space andis left in the moldedtooth, there is only a relatively small surface of the stud in directcontact with the molded bisque hence the stud can easily be withdrawnwithout disturbing or breaking the delicate tooth structure.

Y I have shown my improvements in the commercial form preferred, but Ido not restrict myself to the details thereof, as these may be modifiedWithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

' Having now described my invention, what l claim as new and desiretosecure by Letters Patent, is

l. ln a mold for making artificial teeth, a plurality of parts whichprovide, when assembled, a hollow space approximating the shape of thetooth to be molded, one of said parts having a shallow hole formedtherein and opening into the hollow space and bottomed so as to supporta stud, said hole of less depth than the transverse tooth space measuredin alinement with the hole, in combination with a non-destructible shortstud of metal having a smooth surface and very loosely fitting into andseating upon the bottom of the hole in the mold part and extending partwav across the tooth space, said stud having that part fitting the holeapproximating in length the portion which extends into the tooth space,whereby the weight of the freely detachable stud is exerted u on thetooth to detach it from the mold w en inverted and the stud removablefrom the molded tooth to leave a smooth hole therein without destructionof the stud or tooth.

2. ln a mold for making artificial teeth with anchors, a` plurality ofparts which provide, when assembled, a hollow space approximating theshape of the tooth to be molded, one of said parts having a hole formedtherein and opening into the hollow space, said hole being of smallerdiameter than the anchor to be embedded in the tooth, in combinationwith a very freely removable non-destructible stud for supporting theanchor of the tooth during the molding operation having a shank of adiameter to loosely fit into the hole in the mold part so as to be.capable of falling therefrom when the mold part is inverted and aportion of larger diameter forming with the shank an annular shoulderwhich rests upon the face of the mold part about the hole therein andtapered so as tobe freely removable `from the molded tooth and anchor towhichm it is tempo rarily attached during the molding operation.

3. In a mold for molding artificial pin teeth both with the pinsdirectly attached and when secured in place by anchors, a plu rality ofmold parts having their opposing faces formed with recessed portionswhich, together in the assembled mold, form a plurality of hollow spacesapproximating the shapes of the finished teeth, one of said mold partshaving holes respectively opening into each of the plurality of hollowspaces said holes having a depth greatly less than the transversethickness of the tooth space measured in alinement with the hole incombination with very freely removable non-destructible studs eachhaving a shank of a diameter to loosely fit the holes in the mold partso as to be capable of falling therefrom when the mold part is invertedand each also having a portion of larger diameter forming with the shankan annular shoulder which rests upon the face of the mold part about thehole therein and said portions of larger diameter extending into thetooth spaces and about which the teeth are molded, the said studs beingfreely removable from the mold with the molded teeth and removabletherefrom for providing holes in the teeth.

,In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

G. H. WHITELEY, JR. Vitnesses:

PURDON SMITH, R. M. KELLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents cach, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

